Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-01-15

! bows once in the food and comes up and
shakes the water out Of nostril and eye; and
l bis attendants look at him and say: why
/ General how much better you do look"
| And be bows q second time into the food
and be comes up and the wild stare is gone
put Of his eye, He bows the fnird lime INTO
| the food and comes up and the shriveled
6esh has got smooth again. He bows the
| fourth time into the food and comes up and
| the hair that had fallen out is restored in
thick locks again all over the brow. BE
bows the fifth time into the rood and comes
| up and the hoarseness has gone out OF his
throat He bows the sixth time and
comes up and all the soreness and anguish
have gone out of the limbs. "Why," be says,
! II am almost WE'LL but will mako COM
| plete cure" and he bows the seventh time
into the food, and he come up. and not 50
as big as the head of a pin is to be seen on
him. He steps out on the bank and says:
| sis it possible7' and the attendants look and
say: as it possibleY' and as, with the health
Of an athlete, he bounds back into the
chariot and drives On; there goes up frSn az
course they 60 back to pay and thank the
man Of God for his counsel SO fraught with
wisdom. When they left the prophets house
they went off mad; they have come back
glad.
People always think better of minister
l
| conversion. Now we are to them an intoler-
able nuisance because we tell them to do
| things that go against the grain; but some Of
US have great many letters from those who
| tell us that once they were angry at what we
preached, but afterward gladly received the
fanatics or terrorists or enemies; now they
call us friends Yonder is q mani speak
literal fact-who said that he would never
come into the. church again; He said that
two years ago. He said: MY family shall
never come here again if such doctrines as
that are preached" But he came again and
his family came again. He is a Christian,
| his wife Christian, all his children Chris
| tiaus, the whole household Christians, and /
| shall dwell with them in the house of the
Lord forever. Our undying coadjutors are
those who oncs heard the gospel and went
| away in a rage.
''Now, my hearers, you notice that this
| General Naaman did two things in order to
| get well. The first was-he got out of his
chariot. He might have stayed there with
| his swollen feet on the stuffed ottoman,
seated on that embroidered cushion until his
last gasp, he would never have got any relief
He had to get down out OF the chariot. And
| you have got to get down out of tina chariot of
| your pride If you ever become a Christian
You cannot drive up to the cross with
coach and four, and be saved among all the
| spangles You seem to think that the Lord
| Oh, no; you poor. miserable, scaly, leprous
sinner, get down out of that. We all come
in the same naughty way. We expect to
| ride into the kingdom Of God. Never until
| we get down on our knees will we find mercy.
| The Lord has endorsed us. uncharioted u.s.
Get down out of your pride Get down out
| of your self-rightsousness and your hyper
criticism. We have all got to do that That
| Is the Journey we have got to make on our
knees. It is our internal pride that keeps us
| frum getting rid of the leprosy of sin: Dear
| Lord, what have we to be proud off Proud of
| our scaless Proud of our uncleanness? Proud
| of this killing infections Bring us down at
| Thy feet. weeping, praying, penitent, believ-
| ing supplants.
s'For sinners, Ford, Thou earnest TO bleed,
And I'm a sinner vile indeed;
Lord, believe Thy grace is free,
Oh, magnify that grace in me-"
But he had not only to get down out Of
| his chariot He had to wash. "Ohl" you
| saw, 81 am very careful with my ablutions.
Every day / plunge into a bright and beauti-
| full bath" All, my hearers, there is food
| brighter than any other. 1t is the food that
| breaks from the granite of the eternal bills.
| 1t is the food of pardon and peace and life
and heaven. That food started in the tears
| of Christ and the sweat Of Gethemane and
rolled on, accommodating food, until all earth
| and heaven could battle in it. Zechariah
| called it the fountain open for sin and un-
| cleahnessn William Cowper called it the
fountain filed with blood" Your fathers
and mothers washed all their sins and SORROWS
| away in that fountain. Oh, my hearers, dc
| you not to-day feel like wading into it! w AIDE
| down now into this glorious flood, deeper,
| deeper, deeper. Plunge once, twice, thrice,
| four times, five times, six times, seven times.
| 1t will take as much as that to cure your soul.
| Oh, wash, wash, wash and be clean.
/ suppose that was great time at Damas
ono when General NAaTl1an got back The
characters did not have to drive slowly any
longer, lest they jolt the invalid; but as the
| horses dashed through the streets of Damas-
Gus, think the people rushed out to hail
back their chieftan. Naaman's wife hardly
recognized her husband; he was so wonder
| fully changed she had to look at him two or
three times before she made out that it was
her restored husband. And the little captive
maid, she rushed out, clapping her hands
and shoutipp: ssDid he cure youg Did he
cure YOUR Then music woke up the palace
and the tapestry of the windows was drawn
away, that the multitude outside might min
gle with the princely mirth inside, and the
the streets CT Damascus that night echoed
and re-echoed with the news: "Naaman's
curedi Naaman's curedl"
Rut a cladder time than that it would be in
all this place or wherever this sermon shall
be read, il the soul should get cured OF its
icprosy. The swiftest white horses hitched
to the Kings chariot would rush the news
into the eternal city. Our loved ones before
the throne would welcome the glad tidings.
Your children on earth with more emotion
than the little Hebrew captive would notice
the change in your looks and the change in
syT Cur % yOur neck and say Mother, guess
you must have become christian. Father,
think YOU have got rid of the leprosy." Oh,
Lord God of Elisha, have mercy on usl